Lets list gear that does or not depreciate...

[Logic Pro]

Hi guys,

 

I was thinking of making list we can all add too or share information on with regards to gear that one can get the most out of both in quality and investment.

 

Maybe we can add to this list as we go and it could help everyone from small project studio owners as well as Post production facilities get a idea whats up these days, i certainly lost track.

 

 

Good investment;

Electric Guitars: Gibson, Fender, Gretch, PRS all over $1000

Acoustic Guitars: Gibson, Martin, Taylor

Classical or other: Jose Ramirez, Carlos Salmone, any custom concert models.

Mics= Nueman, AKG, Senhieser, Manley, all over $1000

MIc Preamps: Avalon, Drawmer,

Digital Converters i/o: Apogee

DAW Hardware/Software; ?,

 

 

Bad investment;

DAW Software and hardware; Digidesign= Pro Tools HD Systems, Le Systems, M-Audio Systems all loose value within upgrade periods.

Computers; All in general depreciate and the gap is getting smaller every month.

[marcel72]

No computer or software is ever going to be a good investment, just the nature of the beast. For DAWs, maybe Radar, being fully hardware integrated, would be a 'better' investment.

 

Puzzled by your limited list of preamps... What about Neve 10 series? What about API 2/3/512s? What about V72s and UA 610s? What about Electrodyne /Quad Eights? Great River?

 

And what about EQs and dynamics processors, whole bunch of those...

[ajlayne22]

Taylor Guitars

[Logic Pro]

No computer or software is ever going to be a good investment, just the nature of the beast. For DAWs, maybe Radar, being fully hardware integrated, would be a 'better' investment.

 

Puzzled by your limited list of preamps... What about Neve 10 series? What about API 2/3/512s? What about V72s and UA 610s? What about Electrodyne /Quad Eights? Great River?

 

And what about EQs and dynamics processors, whole bunch of those...

 

I guess we should just say any guitars over 1000€ and pre amps for more then 1400 by a known name brand will not depreciate.

[marcel72]

No computer or software is ever going to be a good investment, just the nature of the beast. For DAWs, maybe Radar, being fully hardware integrated, would be a 'better' investment.

 

Puzzled by your limited list of preamps... What about Neve 10 series? What about API 2/3/512s? What about V72s and UA 610s? What about Electrodyne /Quad Eights? Great River?

 

And what about EQs and dynamics processors, whole bunch of those...

 

I guess we should just say any guitars over 1000€ and pre amps for more then 1400 by a known name brand will not depreciate.

 

Ok, maybe I should qualify what I said a little bit...

 

The current proliferation of digital recording technology has produced a situation where everybody can have, in their bedroom, equipment that used to be the exclusive property of professional recording studios. In response to this, there has been a huge marked created for 'semi-pro' gear. People buy a bunch of this stuff, start recording, and wonder why their guitar doesn't sound like Jimmy Page's. They think (with some not-so-subtle encouragement from marketing people)...

 

Must be the gear.

 

So they go on Ebay and start bidding on vintage equipment, so that they can get 'those sounds'. The price of this stuff goes thru the roof, older analogue stuff you could have bought 15 years ago for $500 now costs $5k. Will this stuff hold its current value? I dunno, you tell me...

 

I think a lot of these people, in the next 5 - 10 years, will start dumping this stuff, because it doesn't make their guitar sound like Jimmy Page's. For most, nothing will. Some will work at their guitar sounds (etc.) and develop into good or even really great engineers, but most won't.

 

Vintage, professional equipment may lose its market value, but it will always be worth something - as long as sound needs to be accurately and musically converted into electricity, a Neumann U47 will always do a good job...

 

In the right hands.

 

Sorry, bit of a rant.

[Logic Pro]

You think i should of started a thread asking to make a list for personal home studio gear?

 

the big studios have stuff like Mic Pres well over the price of affordable home studios, maybe the list should contain few of those items that are popular.

[BassBottom]

I'm convinced that Vintage Fender guitars sounds better then newer guitars. the old fenders sounds better than the newer fenders. It is very strange that they cannot replicate these old instruments. Some of you might say it's a matter of preference but it's really not. It is almost like comparing analog tape and digital.

 

let me clarify things a little. When you are playing on the high notes and thinnest string of the vintage guitar, you hear warmth and body on the notes as oppose to the newer guitars where you don't here that body. As a result with newer guitars, when playing with a live band a clean guitar sound will start to fade in the mix as you go up on higher notes on the thinnest string due to lack of body. The vintage Fender guitars does not seem to have that problem.

 

I guess its safe to say that vintage guitars has better harmonics than the newer ones.

[Logic Pro]

 

I guess its safe to say that vintage guitars has better harmonics than the newer ones.

well if it is a no name brand its more of luck over finding something that was broken into over the years of playing i guess since anything old is.

 

With this post i am realizing that allot of people invest in the same things besides the latest DAW.

 

Like stuff pricey is worth it if it does not depreciate;

TLM103 or another decent mic.,

Mic Pres,

Decent guitars,

Amps,

Reference Monitors,

even Desk for a DAW.

[xpander]

Getting vintage gear is great (if you can get it for a reasonable price, which is rare), but it's just hardware unless you know how to use it properly. A lot of the 'vintage' sound comes from not one hardware unit but usually a chain of them, with each piece adding it's tone. And if you get vintage gear, you have to maintain it's condition (which could get expensive), and you won't have the range of connectivity found in newer gear (i.e.- digital outs,etc.).

 

For my studio, I decided to get a couple of high-end units, namely a great channel strip/preamp, a boutique compressor, and a couple of pricey mics for recording vocals, guitar or whatever. Besides that, I just have my hardware synths, effects boxes/processors, and an Akai MPC2000xl (the original one). Everything else is computer-based. I went for the channel strip for it's 'color' and it helps me to get a good signal into my audio-interface. But I only use these older hardware units on occasion, not all that often. But for sure, everyone should own at least one high-quality microphone...it doesn't have to be vintage, just well manufactured.

 

Peace - xpander

[marcel72]

...it doesn't have to be vintage, just well manufactured.

 

So true. There are some really good designers and engineers working today, with all the accumulated wisdom of those who came before them. With all the frenzy surrounding vintage gear, some of this new stuff goes for quite cheap when even lightly used.

 

Great River. Empirical Labs. Summit. FMR. True Systems. Drawmer. Josephson. Crane Song. Microtech. etc...

[syncsailor]

ground lifts

[Logic Pro]

I think some of the best investments for new starters with a project studio is

 

Mics: TLM 103 or AKG 414,

 

Guitars; Gibson Les Pauls, Martin Acoustics etc

 

Mic pres (generally decent brands over a grand)

 

At least the value of these (very few) items so far stay the same after a year or more and they can be re sold for almost the same as purchased.,

 

For me it means that if you have a budget so low and can take care of this gear, at the least if you could not afford it but have the cash you know you never loose it later since some stuff does not depreciate like other things.